ABSTRACT
The ontology of positivism assumes that there is one objective reality. Its epistemology assumes that it is possible to obtain secure and objective facts and knowledge about the reality by explaining and predicting causal relationships according to objective facts. The 'set of linked assumptions about the world which is shared by a community of scientists investigating' the phenomena is a scientific paradigm; the paradigm orientates thinking and research and defines what the enquiry is about. The sampling employed is theoretical, relational, and discriminative and thus expands theoretical concepts, links them to one another, and provisionally tests the emergent theory's limitations. A case study researcher must pay close attention to detail when interpreting data to ensure the developed theories have relevance beyond the data themselves. Construct validity Triangulation is useful for improving construct validity, avoiding a reliance on a single source of information, and allowing induction to take place.
